Dumb Luck: How I survive the apocalypse
by TheChuckles
Summary: Follows 14 year old Alex struggling to keep his siblings alive after the Governor's attack on the Prison. What starts out as a struggle for survival turns into an epic journey to find safety in a hostile world crawling with The Walking Dead (I'll update once every week or two, so bare with me...More main characters will show up in the story as time goes on, please leave reviews! :D
1. Chapter 1: After

The bus came to a sudden stop as the driver couldn't stop coughing. He was coughing up blood, and fell out of the driver's chair, his face purple, spattered with blood. The rest of us on the bus were all feeling horrible, but I knew that it wouldn't be long before we died. And turned. Unless I leave. I weakly manage to stand up, grab Ashley and Connor from the back of the bus, and leave the bus through the back door.

"Shouldn't we get our stuff, Alex?" Ashley asked me, not really knowning where we were. The flu was causing her-no, all of us-to become delerious.

"We can't, Ash. Too risky." I manage to croak out. She doesn't put up much of a fight as I lead her and Connor down the road, past a sign that says "Hitchhikers may be escaping inmates" and I smile weakly. Yeah, we sure are inmates. After that Governor dude rolled up to the Prison and destroyed it, when we hightailed out of there on the bus, I felt like an inmate breaking out of jail.

I don't know how long we walk for, but we're far from the bus when the sun starts to set, creating a beautiful pink, purple and orange streak low in the sky. Too pretty of a sight for such an ugly world. Connor spots a small house a little ways back into the woods. I don't even know how he managed to see it; I had walked right by it. The flu is probably messing with my mind more than I thought.

The thought of some sort of protection for the night boosts my moral a little bit, but when I approach the house, I hear walkers inside. Damn! We don't have anything to kill them with. I pull at the sleeve of Connor's shirt and start walking down the road again. I hear Ashley start to cry as we start moving again. I don't blame her. How are us three teenagers supposed to survive out here? We don't have any food, water, weapons or shelter. And we're all sick.

We get lucky. About 20 minutes after walking past the house, we find a gas station. Old rusty cars sit parked in the stalls, waiting for gas that will never come. More cars wait behind them, forming a several lines of cars that stretches out into the road. This place must have been chaos.

I have Connor and Ashley wait in one of the old cars while I head inside to scavenge. I'm two years older than Connor and Ashley is too sick to help, so I have to search alone. Inside, I find 3 weathered corpses, all neatly placed on the floor. They're so old they don't stink anymore, and I avoid them as I look through the empty shelves.

I score a couple stale bags of chips, a bottle of grape soda, and a couple full packs of mint gum. They'll just love the gum. I slip 3 pieces in my mouth all at once, and make a satisfied sound as my mouth fills with an overwhelming minty sensation. The back of the store doesn't have much else that I can use, except for a crowbar laying next to a broken window. At least I have a weapon now.

I'm about to go back out when I see a safe built into the wall right next to a desk. Probably where the owner kept all their money and everything...but maybe there's a gun in there? I've seen plenty of videos on the news where somebody breaks into a gas station and the clerk has a gun and everything...

I find the key to the safe in the desk, thank god, and as I open the safe i'm nervous. Inside, a couple stacks of money lay, with heavy dust coating them. Behind the money I find what I was looking for: A pistol! I have no clue what kind of make or model it is, but who cares?! It's a gun! There's even a full box of ammo with it!

I'm giddy with joy as I call for Ashley and Connor to come inside so we can take cover for the night. We feast on stale chips and mint gum, and share the warm grape soda. Halfway though the "meal", Ashley gets an asthma attack, and I have to calm her down, having her breath into a paper bag.

"It's okay, Ash, it's okay. We're safe here. None of the walkers can get to us. Just calm down.." But it's not working. She continues to wheeze and gasp for breath.

"Just think of the library at the prison. You LOVE the library, right?" I ask, and she manages to nod. "Did you bring any books with you, Ash? Connor, can you grab her bag for me?"

Connor looks down at the dirty floor awkwardly and rubs the back of his head. "We left them on the bus." He says shyly.

I groan. Of course, I had them leave their bags on the bus.

"Book" Ashley whimpers. She's calmed down now, well, sort of. She's shaking like a leaf and crying, again. God i'm such a horrible guardian. I can hardly get my own siblings to shelter and barely feed them, and I can't do a thing as my sister cries her eyes out.

Well, I can do something.

"Connor, watch over your sister, K? I'll be right back." I instruct him as I grab the pistol and load it.

"W-where are you going? It's dark out."

"I'm gonna go get our stuff from the bus."

Connor's eyes go wide in fear. "But you can't Alex! It's dark and you can't leave us alone in the dark and there's walkers out there and..oh..you just..CAN'T!" He sputters as tears start to flow freely down his face.

Oh my god. I'm such a good protector.

I look outside, and realize I don't have a flashlight or anything to help me see in the dark, and I would probably get lost.

I sigh. "Fine, i'll stay here. But tomorrow morning I'm going back to the bus for our stuff, okay?"

Connor sniffles, and looks up. "Okay."

Dammit, I really want to go out there and get our stuff. But I can't. With no flashlight with me, i'd get lost or eaten or a thousand other things.

Ashley has fallen asleep now, and I lay on the ground, knowing I won't sleep at all tonight. Connor curls up next to me instantly, and I guess I manage to get some sleep, because the next thing I know it's light outside, and there are walkers moaning outside.

I'm up in a flash, pistol in hand and aiming out the smashed window. There are 3 walkers shuffling along, unaware of us in the gas station. I keep my pistol pointed at them until they're out of sight, and finally relax. It's probably gonna be another couple hours before either Ashley or Connor wake up, so I decide to make the station a little more "homey"

Venturing into the woods immediately next to the gas station, I bring in several armfuls of sticks to use as firewood. Once they're stacked in the corner, I go back out and haul up 7 or 8 heavier logs, and pile them in the doorway. Only if I had a hammer and some nails...then I could keep Connor and Ashley safe in here, while I go out and get our stuff.

Oh, and we still don't have any food, either...

I hear a gun click behind me, and freeze.


	2. Chapter 2: The Struggle Part 1

"Don't you dare move a muscle, kid." A female voice calls out behind me. Oh, this is just fucking perfect.

"Drop the gun, son." Another voice, belonging to what sounds like an old man, commands. I slowly set the gun down, and slowly turn around. Infront of me are 3 people. The woman pointing the shotgun at me is in her 20's, with a slightly muscular build, long black hair pulled back in a pony tail, and piercing blue eyes, giving me a cold stare. Her face is stony, I can tell she would kill me in an instant.

The other two are both guys; An old man and another dude, with dark DARK skin and dreadlocks, pointing a machette at me. The old guy steps up, hobbling up a little bit so he's standing with the woman.

He looks at her. "Kat, look at him. He's just a poor kid, doesn't have anything. Lets just move on, leave him be. Oh thank god.

"We don't have anything, Dad. Or did you forget? Stay here, i'm gonna go search inside."

"There's nothing in there, lady. Just my brother and sister, who are still sleeping. So..could you like, not wake them up? Please?" I tell her, trying to sound nice, but she doesn't buy it, and storms right on in anyways.

"Dave, man, look at this place" The black guys says, "It looks stable enough. We could set up here, man."

The old guy, Dave, scratches his chin. "That isn't a bad idea, Isaac. Well, is it alright with you if we move in with you, umm.." He starts to ask.

"Alex".

"Alex. Would it be alright with you if we possibly moved in here with you?"

I want to say yes, I really really want to. These three have weapons, and possibly more supplies in the backpacks they have on. Plus, more people is always good. But can I even trust them? That woman, Kat, she seems like a bitch, but Dave and Isaac are fine, I guess.

"Uh..well..I guess you could..I mean, I don't know how much longer I can go on fending for myself plus my brother and sister. You guys seem friendly enough...unless you turn out to be cannibals and flay me in my sleep." I say, the last part as a joke, and Isaac snickers. Dave smiles, and reaches out his hand. I step closer and shake it, and study his face up close. His smile looks genuine, and he's not that strong, I can tell.

"I'm Dave, and that's Isaac. The woman is Kat, she's my daughter. She can come on strong."

"Oh really, I didn't notice." I say, and smile.

With that, we all walk inside the station, and Isaac helps Dave sit down, while he himself getting some of my firewood to start a fire. Ashley and Connor are both still sound asleep on the far side of the station. Kat emerges from the back room a minute later, and silently sits down next to her Dad.

"So you were telling the truth...I'm sorry, I know I can be a bitch sometimes. It's just, we haven't really ran into anybody friendly in a loooong time." Kat tells me, and extendes her hand. "I'm Kathrine, but I go by Kat."

"Alex. And it's okay, I understand." I say back.

"How long have you been here, Alex? This looks like a pretty good place to set up."

"Just got here last night. Was at a prison with a much larger group, but some crazy guy with a tank tore down the fences and we're all scattered. Me and my brother and sister got out on a bus with a bunch of sick people, but yesterday everyone started dying so we left." Just then I remembered out stuff was still there.

"We left our stuff there in a hurry to get away. On the bus. Is there any way that one of you could help me go and get our stuff?" I ask, optamistic.

"I'll go." Isaac says, and stands up.

"Good." I say, and hold out my pistol. "Here, you'll probably be better with this than me."

He smiles and lifts up his shirt to show his belt, with a big hunting knife on it, and we head out. I feel really unsure about leaving Connor and Ashley with strangers, but I'll only be gone for like an hour. I hope they don't wake up while i'm gone.

We're just a little ways from the gas station when Isaac starts a conversation.

"You mentioned that you were at a prison earlier, right? Do you think you could show me where it is?"

I'm kind of surprised by the question. "Umm..I guess. yeah, sure. But I really wanted to keep this short, so when my brother and sister wake up i'll be there."

"Oh, I see. That's fine then." Isaac says, and we walk a couple more minutes.

"My Dad was in prison when it happened. The turn. I guess I wanted to see if this prison you were talking about was the one he was in...did you know anybody there named Donte Williams?" He looks hopeful, and I feel sad when I tell him no.

"Oh, I figured."

I'm shocked when I see the bus. There are dead walkers scattered all over behind the bus, and the back door is wide open. I jump up the front, and see even more dead bodies. The stink is just awful, and I barely manage not to puke.

Breathing through my mouth, I work my way up the aisle, until I find where we were sitting. Thankfully, the two huge duffle bags are still there, next to some dead walker. Shot in the head, which means somebody else escaped. I mean, either that or somebody else rolled up and put them out of their misery.

Isaac hops into the bus, and starts searching for other useful stuff. After a quick sweep we find 4 more backpacks full of food, water, clothes, weapons, and yes, books. It seems that today might be a good day after all.

And that's when I notice the herd of walkers surrounding the bus.


	3. Chapter 3: The Struggle Part 2

****Sorry this update is short, the next few will be longer :D

Silently, I tap Isaac on his shoulder and nudge my head towards a window. Once he sees the herd outside, he grabs me and ducks. Now crouching in the aisle, he turns to me.

"All we have to do is sit here and wait them out. Give it 10-15 minutes before they're gone."

That sounds like a good plan, I think. Once the walkers are gone we'll head back to-Oh wait. A terrifying thought flashes through my head, and I peek up at the walkers moving past the bus. DAMN IT!

"Isaac, their heading towards the gas station!" I say in a loud whisper.

Isaac's eyes go wide, and he looks up through the window, confirming what I just said.

"We have to do something, man! If we don't they'll stumble right into my brother and sister, and Kat and her dad!" I'm rapidly growing frantic now. I've managed to keep Connor and Ashley alive for over 17 months, through walkers and destroyed cities and bad people, and these scumbag walkers are NOT killing them. I'll make sure of that.

"Listen, Alex. Here's what we're gonna do. Once the herd passes, we'll sneak over to the woods, and run back to the gas station. Hopefully we'll get ahead of the herd, and we can grab everyone and bring em back here. Then, once the herd passes the station, we'll simply go back there. You follow me?"

Jeez. I'm impressed; Isaac's sure a fast thinker. In the minute and a half since we realized the walkers were there, he's already come up with an excellent plan.

It's another 10 minutes before the herd passes. Must be hundreds of walkers there. We slip out the front of the bus and sprint into the woods, leaving all the supplies on the bus. Isaac runs faster than me, and is far ahead of me, but even running at a slower pace, i'm still passing the herd.

I'm so focused on the herd that I when I run into the walker, I tackle it to the ground full force.

"AGH" I scream, and pull myself off the walker, but he's grabs my ankle, and tries bit me, but I kick him square in the face with my other foot, and scramble away. I reach for my gun, and am about to pull the trigger when I remember the herd. It's a miracle that my scream didn't bring them all down on me.

I get a good look at the walker. Some old guys, half his face covered in a huge bite mark, with long tangled silver hair and rotting skin everywhere. His stomach is hanging out, and the smell of rotting flesh makes me puke.

The old guy walker is up again, and he's shuffling towards me, snarling, blood and pus dripping from his mouth. I try to pistol whip him, like i've seen in movies, but it's a weak attempt that sends my gun flying behind me and the walker barely fazed. I shove him away and back up, but I trip over a log. This is the end. Nearly 2 years of surviving and some old guy gets you. You should've been more prepared I think as the old guy lunges on me.

But he never actually lands on me. I open my eyes and see Kat, Dave, Connor, Ashley and Isaac staring at me. Embarassed, I get up, and hug Kat, who has a bloody hatchet in her hand.

"Thank you." I whisper, and then Connor and Ashley tear me away and hug me themselves.

"You know you could have told us that you found other people, Alex. We woke up and saw Kat watching us. Ashley almost had another panic attack." Connor says.

I ruffle his hair. "You guys looked so peaceful sleeping, and I was trying to get back to you just now."

After the little reunion, we walk back to the bus, careful to be quiet so the herd doesn't realize we're here, but within a couple minutes the herd passes, and we get to the bus. I help Connor and Isaac unload all of the goodies when-all of the sudden- the bus starts up.

I race to the front of the bus to see Kat in the driver's seat.

"We can just drive this back to the gas station, instead of walking." She says, and slowly turns the bus around. It's only takes 20 minutes to get back to the station, the old, hollowed out, unsafe station.

"Hey, you guys, do you think that we could, like, move on and try to find a better place to stay at. That herd could've destroyed us if we were all back here when it came through." I suggest.

"Where do you have in mind that we should go, then?" Dave asks.

"I know a place where there's a bunch of food, ammo, guns, cars, everything we need. But it'll be dangerous, there are walkers all around it. But, I know a way we could sneek through, past all the walkers."

I pause for dramatic effect. "Let's go to the prison."


	4. Chapter 4: Revisiting the Prison, Part 1

It hasn't even been a day since the downfall of the prison, but it feels like it's been centuries.

It took me a solid hour to convince Kat to take us here. Understandably, I guess, she said that it was too dangerous, and we should go north, for whatever reason. But Isaac came to my defense, saying we could use the supplies. I think, though, that he wants to look for his dad.

I wish I still had hope of finding my dad.

Anyways, that's all in the past now, and now we're standing on the edge of the forest, staring at the ruin that is the prison. That crazy guy, The Governor, had a tank with him, and ran over the fences with it, leaving a giant hole in the fence, with walkers pouring in.

It all comes back to me in a flash.

I was inside my cell, reading with one of my friends, Carl, when we heard a giant BOOM, and the prison shook. We looked at each other, wondering what just happened. He told me he was going to go find his Dad, and swiftly walked out of my cell, but I heard him running once he was out of my sight. That was the last I saw of Carl that day.

All of the sudden, people were scrambling all over the place, going to get this or that, to see what was happening outside, gossiping. I wondered outside, and, down in the field right outside of the prison fences, saw this guy standing on a tank.

What.

I rushed into the courtyard, and pushed through the people, trying to get a better view. I saw some adults grab for the guns stockpiled in the carts next to the fence, and they started handing them out. I recognized Sasha, with her frizzy black hair, and Daryl, the hunter. They were both on the council. I didn't see Glenn, but he was sick, so he was inside. I didn't see Carol either, or Hershel.

I looked down at the guy on the tank again, with several other cars around him, and I saw two people kneeling on the ground infront of the tank. After squinting, I saw a black women with long brown hair, who looked vaugley familiar, and Hershel. What is this guy doing with Hershel?

"Alex! What's going on?!" I hear my younger brother, Connor ask as he runs up next to me, followed by my 14 year old sister, Ashley. They look confused. So does everyone else.

"I don't know, dude, but it looks pretty serious. Let's go inside. We can go to the library, Ash, and you can pick up some more books." I say, and start back for the prison.

"Hey, you kids. Come with me, we're going to the bus." A woman calls for us, and I turn around to see Glenn's wife, though I can't recall her name. Molly? Maggie? Macey?

"Why do we have to go to the bus, ma'am?" I ask, but she doesn't answer, and instead grabs my arm and pulls me along with her to the bus.

There's already a couple people inside, mostly old people and the sick. I spot Beth, who I had a crush on, but would never ever admit it, and sit down next to her. Connor and Ashley sit in the seat in front of us.

"Hey, what's going on?" I ask her. She checks to see if anyone is listening, and tells me everything-

"Alex?" Kat asks sharply, poking me hard in the shoulder.

"Huh, uh, what?" I say, clumsily.

"Did you like zone out or something? Show us how to get in here so we can get what we need and go. I don't want to be here a second longer than we need to be." She says sternly, and awaits my reply.

"Oh, yeah. Um, the back of the prison is destroyed. Like, there's entire chunks of wall missing and everything, and hardly any walkers over there since the fences were repaired. We should be able to sneak through there."

"And, uh, how do you know all of this?" Dave asks.

"My friend Carl showed me once. He was here way longer than I was."

I was expecting the inside to be destroyed, but it's remained almost completely untouched. Except for a giant hole high up in the wall by the courtyard, everything is right where it was when I left yesterday. When there were still people here.

"Damn, you guys had a sweet setup..how many people lived here?" Isaac asks, staring in awe.

"About 70, maybe more I guess." I say in a sad tone.

"Wait, you're telling me there are more cell blocks set up like this? Not just this one? Man, we could've really used this place." Isaac says again, and starts wondering around.

Yeah, and apparently The Governor really could have used this place, too, I think but don't say.

"Hey Alex, can we go to the library? PLEASE?" Ashley asks me, tugging on my arm. For somebody only a few months younger than me, she treats me like a parent. I guess I am the parent now, since both Mom and Dad are dead...

"Of course, Ash. Connor, you coming with us?"

"No, I wanna swing by my old cell, and pick up some stuff."

"Okay, we'll be back in a couple minutes. Stay within somebodies sight, okay? Promise me."

"I promise" Connor says with a sigh, and runs up the metal stairs to his cell that he shared with Ashley.

"Hold up. Where are you going?" Kat asks, coming out of one of the cells with some pillows and blankets.

"I'm taking my sister to the library. She loves to read." I say, and start to head out with Ash.

"Wait a minute, Alex, you just can't go wondering around here unprotected. What if something happens? We'll get to the library eventually."

I hate how she's talking about the prison as just another place to clean out for supplies. Even though that's why we're here, this was our home for a long time. Literally this time yesterday,

"Um, not to be disrespectful or anything, Kat, but I've lived here for the last couple months, I know this place better than any of you. So, I think i'll be just fine. It looks like none of the walkers got inside."

"Well, what if some did? I don't want to take any chances." She says quite sternly.

I'm getting annoyed now. "Kat, I get that you're worried, but I know this place like the back of my hand. I'll be just fine. I won't need any help, i've got this." I say, and pat the pistol strapped to my upper thigh. I found a gun holster in one of the tomb cells earlier.

"Take Dave with you." Kat says, and heads into another cell. I roll my eyes.

"Fine, c'mon then Dave, i'll give you a little tour since you're going along."I say, bitter, and walk out.

I'm not a little kid, Kat. I hope you know that. I've been watching over my brother and sister since before this all started, I think I can handle myself.

"I'm sorry about this place, kid. Must really suck to lose such a good place." Dave says sympathetically, and pats my shoulder.

"Thanks. This place means so much to me, you'd never understand." At least Dave understands, sort of, that this place is more than looting ground.

"Oh, I think i'd understand..." Dave says, his voice fading as he talks, as if reminiscing over an old memory. I'll ask him about it later.

Today might actually be a good day, I think.

Thanks to everyone that's reading this...Please Follow/Favorite this story and PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE leave reviews. How do you like the story? Is it good? Bad? What do you like? LET ME KNOW IN THE REVIEWS PLEASE :D


	5. Chapter 5: Revisiting the Prison, Part 2

****Sorry it took so long for me to update, i've been pretty busy lately...

Before I even open the library door I can hear the moans.

"Must be at least 3 of them in there" Dave says.

"No one tells Kat, got it?" And then I kick open the door, and of course one of them is waiting for me, not 5 feet from the door. Instead of a decayed corpse, this walker looks fresh. Someone from the prison, I think as I pistol whip the walker. She goes down, but quickly gets up, now a small indent in the side of her head.

"Underneath the rocking chair, there's knives. Someone get them!" I yell, and the two other walkers whip around. Like their friend, they're both fresh, but they're a lot younger. The first walker must've been in her 50's, with shortish grey hair, but the other two were mere boys, my age probably.

I can't fire shots, because then Kat will come running and babysit me like i'm 5. I don't need babysitting from Kat, that's for sure. I sure with I had another weapon, besides my pistol.

"Dave, please tell me you have a knife or something!" I say without turning around, preparing to dodge the walkers sloppy lunges. I hear something skitter across the floor, and see Dave's slid a small machette towards me, but it misses and lays 10 feet in front of me.

The woman is almost on me now, but I dodge her attack, and run between the other two walkers, and manage to grab the machette, sliding across the wooden floor on my stomach. When I turn over, one of the boys falls on me.

I let out a choked scream before I slice the top of his head off with the machette, and dark black blood and brains spill out all over me. Yuck. I almost throw up, but the other boy walker is approaching. I throw the machette at his head, hoping and praying that it kills him. It doesn't, of course, and the hilt bounces off his forehead.

"FUCK!" I scream out of rage. Yeah, this is a really good day after all.

"Here!" Ash calls, and for a split second the walker turns around, but that's all I need. I roll, scoop up the machette at the walker's feet, and viciously stab the stupid thing in the head.

Dave took out the other walker with one of Carol's knifes. This time yesterday she was doing story time, and afterwards she would teach the little kids how to use knifes. I used to help her sometimes. The woman walker looked awfully like Carol, but she was gone when the Prison fell yesterday, so it can't be her...can it?

"Are you okay, Alex?" Dave asks.

"I think so" I croak out, and wipe walker brains from my face, and then I throw up, all over the nice wood floors. And as I throw up I start crying. At first I think it's because of how disgusting the walkers smell, but it's not that. Those two walkers were alive yesterday, actual living people with lives of their own. Friends, parents probably, maybe then worked with Rick and Carl with the farming stuff. Who knows. Ashley tries to comfort me, but I squirm away, and storm over to a dark corner in the room and curl up, knees up to my chest, head buried between them.

It's Kat who finally snaps me out of it, sometime later.

"Alex, c'mon, we're leaving soon." She says, not in her mean, commanding voice, but in her nice voice, the one she used earlier today at the gas station after they settled in.

"I need a clean shirt" I say, the most obvious thing ever. This shirt is ruined, that's for sure.

"I think I have one here..." She starts to reach for a duffle bag.

"No, I'll get one from my cell" I say, coldy, standing up brisquely, heading for the door. No one stops me as I walk through the prison back to the cell block. I know Connor went up to out cell earlier, but I didn't want to. I would have cried for sure, I thought, but I just got done crying so it didn't matter now.

I don't even care to look around my old cell, because Connor already picked it clean, except for my dresser. Even when we lived here, I kept the cell pretty barren, because I always felt it would never last long. I was wrong, sort of, if you consider 3 months long. I guess when the world has ended a week is a long time.

I grab a nice green polo shirt, and slip it on. The shorts I'm wearing are ruined too, stained a dark dark red/blackish color, so I grab a fresh pair, nice cargo shorts with lots of pockets. I march back to the library with an armful of fresh clothes, still brooding, and carelessly slip them into an empty duffle Connor gives me.

We came into the prison with a bunch of empty duffle bags, but we leave with almost more than we can carry. Everyone has two or three bags or backpacks in their hands, and then one or two hanging from their backs. We load up all the gear in the back of the bus, minus the dead walker bodies from earlier, and we set off.

I don't look back at the Prison as we drive away. I don't ever want to see that place again. That part of my life is done, best move on. Connor and Ashley stare longfully at the Prison though, and I almost cry, but still don't look. Instead, I move up towards the front of the bus where Dave is.

"Do you have any idea on where Kat is driving us to?" I ask him, sitting down on the seat across from him. He was reading, some thick book without a cover, and had a stack of books next to him.

Dave takes off his reading glasses as he looks up. "We were heading east before we ran into you at the gas station a couple hours ago, so I'm guessing we're still heading east."

"East? Why east?" I ask.

"Kat and Isaac want to reach the coast, find a boat, and hole up on some island, an island with no walkers on it."

That's such a good idea, I think. I would have never thought of that myself. If we get to an island with no walkers on it, we could live on forever without worrying about walkers. Eat fish and seafood from the ocean, and stuff like that, I guess.

"That's smart...What are you reading?" I ask, unsure of what else to talk about. Anything to distract myself from the fact that i'll never see the prison again.

He holds up the book, and for the first time I see the tiny silver cross in the center, answering my question.

"Do you believe in God, Alex? Dave asks me.

"Ugh..um, not really I guess. Well, I don't know. My step-dad wasn't religious, and he didn't want us to be either, so..."

"Step-dad?" Dave says with a questioning tone.

"Yeah...my real dad was a cop, down in King County. Got shot a couple years before all this happened. My mom married this real asshole, but he had money, she said, and without him we'd be living in a shelter somewhere. So we had to tolerate him." I pause, remembering how awful everything was back then. Sometimes I think that the end of the world is a blessing in disguise. It got me away from him.

But now i've started, so I have to keep going.

"His name was Quinton. He has this scrunched up face, with a big fat nose, he looked like a pig, but we never ever mentioned that in front of him. He was really strict about everything. I don't even know how Mom could've found somebody like him. When the dead started to come back from the dead and all that, I could finally get away from him."

Dave looks concerned now. "Oh my god, that must've been awful, Alex." He says, and pats my shoulder. "What ever happened to him?"

Should I tell him? Even Connor and Ash don't know what I did to him...but Dave seems so trustworthy, he wouldn't think bad about me if I told him...right? All of the sudden, I get lightheaded, and I take a deep breath before I talk again.

"I killed him."


	6. Chapter 6: GGGGLLLLEEEENNNNNNNN!

I wake up to someone screaming.

Instantly, i'm up, and have my pistol drawn, but nobody inside the bus is screaming. Everyone is sound asleep. And then I hear it again-Someone screaming a name.

"GGGGLLLEEEEEENNNNNNNN!"

Oh my god. That must be Glenn's wife, the one that told me to get into the bus two days ago. Oh god, what was her name? Molly?

I run down the aisle, open the bus doors, and run outside. It must be like 5 am, because the sun is just coming up, creating a reddish/orange smear in the sky. I don't hear any walkers, but from Molly screaming like that, they'll be here soon.

"Molly?!" I yell, eager for a response.

"Glenn..?" 3 figures crash through the forest to my left, and I point my gun at them. It's Glenn's wife, who's name I've decided must be Molly, a black guy with short black hair whose name I can't remember, and Sasha.

Molly studies me for a second, surprised. "..Alex?" Instead of saying anything, I smile, a real smile, not the fake smiles I use infront of Connor or Ash. No, this is 100& genuine smile.

"Is Glenn with you?" She asks, and heads into the bus, not waiting for an answer.

"It's good to see a familiar face, Alex." Sasha says, and walks over to hug me. I hug back, and i'm so happy that they found me that I'm crying. I was sure that i'd never see any of the prison people ever again.

"MAGGIE!" I hear Ashley, and Connor, yell at the exact same time, and my smile just gets bigger. And, oops, I guess her name is Maggie, not Molly.

Sasha and I head into the bus, closely followed by the other guy. The rest of the gang is up now, and they gather around Sasha and I.

"These people from the prison group, Alex?" Kat asks, ever wary.

"Oh yes, they absolutely are." I say, and she heads down the bus towards Maggie and the kids. Dave and Isaac are talking to the other guy, but I notice that Isaac keeps glancing over at Sasha. Oooh, somebody has a crush maybe? :)

We sit down on the nearest bench, and I put my pistol down.

"How'd you get out of there, Alex? And who are these people you're with? Are they good?" Sasha asks me all of these questions in the time it would take a normal person to ask one of them.

"Slow down there, Sasha." I say, and smile again, before answering all her questions. "We were on this bus when it left, but people started getting reaaaallly sick, and the driver collapsed, so I got Connor and Ash and we left. Found a gas station and stayed there for the night. Those three found us the next morning, but don't worry, they're good." Sasha's face relaxes after that sentence.

"They helped me get to the bus, and all the sick people had turned into walkers, but somebody put them down-"

"That was us" Sasha interupts.

"...Of course it was. We went back to the prison, but there wasn't anybody there, and we grabbed as much stuff we could and took off."

"You're lucky that this group of yours turned out to be good people."

"Well, when we first met yesterday morning, Kat held me a gunpoint for a little bit there." I smile. "How'd you guys get out?"

"Once the Governor's tank broke down the fences, we started to head out, but Bob got shot. Maggie found us, and we left through the back. Then, later on we found the bus, after you guys left, looking for Glenn. Didn't find him, so we followed the road, until some walkers chased us into the forest, and we found you."

"Not nearly as eventfully, or exciting, as my story" I say, grinning.

It's then that Kat speaks up.

"We're moving out! You all should sit down!" She struts up the aisle, and starts the bus, pulling out of the ditch we parked in last night.

"Where are we going?" Isaac asks.

"Well, Maggie and her group were looking for her husband, Glenn, and she thinks that he might have went south, so south it is, I guess." She answers, and everyone falls back into their conversations.

"Excuse me a moment, Sasha." I say, and head back to where Maggie is talking with Connor and Ashley. When I sit down, I tell them to go and get some breakfast. Once they leave, Maggie smiles at me.

"They're sweet. They don't deserve to suffer through all of this." Maggie tells me, and I nod in agreement.

"I thought I'd never see any of you ever again." I confess.

"Out of everybody, I didn't expect you guys to be on the bus." She looks sad she says "I for sure thought Glenn was here."

"No...Glenn got off the bus right before it took off, looking for you and Beth."

"Really?"

"Yup. Good thing, too, because he'd of probably died here, with all the other sick people."

"Yeah, I suppose..." Maggie glances up at Kat driving, then looks back at me. "Is she always such a bitch?"

YES! I want to say, but instead I just giggle and say "Not always, but she has her moments."

"She told me that there was no chance of finding Glenn, and I threatened to leave if we didn't go north."

"She told you you'd never see Glenn again?"

"Yes."

Damn. Kat isn't one to be kind to strangers, I guess. Already I can tell that Maggie and Kat won't get along, AT ALL. But Dave and Isaac seem to be deep in conversation with the other guy, and Connor and Ashely are happy to have Maggie back.

I head to the back of the bus, where all the bags of supplies are, and sit with Connor and Ashley as they eat a breakfast of granola bars and ceral with no milk. I snag a bag of pretzels and sit back.

Let the search for Glenn begin.


	7. Chapter 7: What We Are

It's only been 5 days since Maggie and Kat met, but their arguements are already legendary. The first argument was when the road we're on started curving East, and Kat wanted to go back, but Maggie persisted we keep following the road.

The second encounter was when the bus ran out of gas, and Maggie had us spend the good part of a day looking for gas, but we didn't find any, so Kat had us continue on foot. We found an old one level house and that's where we've been for the last day and a half.

Maggie, Kat, Isaac and I are outside, discussing who will go on runs and whatnot, when it gets out of hand, again. This time it's over whether we should keep using our guns or not, due to the limited amount of ammo we have left. Bob's pistol ran out of ammo before they found us, and my pistol only has about 10 bullets left. I'm pretty sure Kat's shotgun is out of ammo as well, which is why she wants us all to give all our remaining ammo to Dave.

"What if we get caught in a herd, huh?! Say there's hundreds of walkers, and all we have are knives!" Maggie snaps at Kat. Kat looks pretty annoyed at this point, her forehead wrinkled and her eyes narrowed, giving Maggie a cold stare.

"We won't get caught in a herd if they don't here us, Maggie! Gun fire attracts those things, you know that! Do you really want one of us firing off a shot and bringing more of those undead fuckers down on us?"

"Well I know i'm not giving up my gun. Nope. And you can't take it from me." Maggie says, defiently, crossing her arms.

Kat, being the one that has a level head, tries to defuse the situation.

"Maggie, please. I don't want to drawn walkers as much as you do, okay? The best chance of that happening is if we don't use our guns. You understand that, right?" She says, trying to be calm.

Maggie is having none of it though. "I admit that is true, Kat, but there are worse things than walkers. Say a group comes through, people like The Governor, huh? And they'll have guns, who doesn't? We need to be prepared for that, you understand that, right?" She says, the last part in a mocking tone.

If there's anything Kat hates more than walkers, it's when someone mocks her. I know that the argument has reached it's boiling point when Maggie starts mocking Kat, because thats when Kat loses it. Isaac sees that it's about to get real, too, because he attempts to break it up, stepping in between Kat and Maggie, forcing them to back away from each other.

"Okay, hold up here guys." He starts, "I agree with both of you. Guns attract walkers, but we need to be prepared for an attack by the living. So, how about both of you keeps your guns, and everyone else gives them to Dave. Sound fair?"

Situation defused. Isaac really has a knack for that kind of stuff. Maggie and Kat both nod their heads curtly, and we all head inside to gather up guns and ammo for Dave. Inside the old house, Connor and Ashley are writing on the walls with chalk they found, with Sasha watching them. Bob and Dave are in the kitchen, talking at the table, but they both rise when we walk in.

"All guns and ammo will be given to you, Dad, expect for ours." She points at Maggie and herself. Dave nods his head in agreement.

"Okay then, i'll get a bag." He grabs one of the several empty duffles stacked in the corner and sets it on the table. Dave puts his pistol inside, followed by Isaac's semi-automatic he found hanging off of a dead walker a couple days ago. I put my gun in there, with the near empty box of ammo I keep in my pocket. Bob puts his pistol inside, and Dave zips up the duffle.

"We need to go on a run, get some more supplies before we move out tomorrow." Dave says once he's moved the bag back to the corner of the room. "Most of the food we got from the Prison is gone."

"I'll go" Maggie and I say at the exact same time. Kat tries to interject by her Dad stops her.

"Let them go, honey. You need to rest." He says, patting her shoulder. She gives in, not wanting to instigate further conflict, and retires to the living room to sit by Sasha. Maggie grabs two empty bags and exits the room silently, already ready for the run.

"Umm...I don't have a weapon here." I say to both Isaac and Dave.

Before Dave can reach in the bag to get my gun, Isaac unbuckles his machette sheath from his belt and hands it to me. I look up at him, hesitantly taking his weapon.

"Are you sure, man?" I ask nervously. He just smiles, those perfectly white teeth contrasting against his dark skin.

"O'course, man. Just don't get it too dirty." He winks, and leaves the room. I grab two duffle bags, formerly filled with food, now empty, and meet Maggie in the living room.

"Ready?" She asks. I nod, and we head out the front door, after I promise Connor that i'll be back in a couple hours once he sees me leaving. "PPPLLEEEAASSSE come back soon, Alex!" He whined. I ruffled his long black hair and told him of course, because what else am I supposed to say? "Oh yeah I might be dead in a couple hours, but don't worry because that's completely normal now!"

I'm so happy I have the rest of the group to protect them now, because if I didn't have them, them and me would both be dead by now.

As Maggie and I silently walk down the road, I think of how lucky i've been since the Prison fell. If Kat, Dave and Isaac had been thugs, and not nice, i'd be dead. Connor would be dead. Ashley would be dead. Or when I went back to the bus to get supplies, that old man walker would've got me for sure, but Kat saved me. Isaac devised the plan that got me and him out of there, alive.

So many people died at the prison, shot by The Governor's "army" or devoured by the walkers swarming everywhere once the fences were breached by the tank. People I had known for months, good people, little kids, old men and women, just mindlessly killed. But Maggie, Sasha and Bob got out somehow. Which means there must be survivors besides us, right?

"Maggie, do you know if anyone else got out?" I ask out of nowhere. She stops walking and looks at me, sadly.

"For a little bit I thought Glenn and Beth were on the bus, but they weren't. I saw Daryl blow up the tank, and run off with Beth and the kids, I think. Tyreese was cornered by two of _his_ thugs." She says his with loads of venom, and I don't have to ask who she's referring too. Hearing that Beth made it out fills me with hope. We need to find her, and Daryl. I resolve to myself.

"Carol wasn't even there, so she might still be alive." Maggie says. "She killed Karen and David, so Rick exiled her the day before he destroyed everything."

Whoa, that's news.

"Rick...kicked her out?" I say, not believing it.

"Yeah, he told me when he got back. He said that she killed Karen and David, but I just can't see Carol doing that." She says, confusion written on her face.

"Yeah, me neither." I say, my voice wondering off.

"Other than that, I don't think anyone else made it." She says, sadness soaking her words.

"What about Hershel? Or Rick? Rick must've made it out, right Maggie? I mean, he's..well, Rick. He's the reason that we were even at the Prison. And if he made it out, Carl must've too. And what about your dad, he's so smart, he must be alive too. And Glenn's out there, we know that. Everybody can't be dead, Maggie. " I say, daring to hope that she can confirm what I just said. Please please please let them be alive.

Maggie puts a hand on my shoulder, barely holding back tears.

"I wish I could be as optimistic as you, Alex, but.." She hesitates, and I know bad news is coming. "The Governor chopped off my dad's head, Alex. He's dead. I don't know about Michonne. I saw The Governor beating on Rick, and Carl was with Daryl last I saw him, but when I saw him leave with Beth he wasn't there, so I don't know-" She stops once I fall over, crying uncontrollably.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no. This can't be happening. How could someone kill Hershel? He was so nice, and smart, and kind. And it seems like Rick is dead, and Carl, my best friend, must be dead too. I put my head in my hands and sob. Loudly. I don't care if Maggie sees, or anyone for that matter. I'm just so done.

"My best friend, Carl, dead. Hershel, dead. Rick, dead. My mom, dead. Most everyone i've ever cared about is dead or missing. How cruel is that? How am I supposed to handle that? Just suck it up and move on, right? No, not anymore, I can't. Two years of losing people, friends, family, hell, even seeing all the walkers makes me depressed. They were someone once, all of them. Millions and millions, Billions dead, replaced by satanic flesh eating monsters.

"The worst part is when I die, or Connor or Ashley or Kat, you, Isaac, Dave, when we die, we come back as them. The walking dead, cursed to eat the living until the end of time. How fucking sick is that?" My rant is interrupted with choking sobs and sniffles. I feel Maggie crouch down next to me, wrapping me in her arms, but that doesn't help. Before, it would have, but not in this world of death and destruction, where either you live a cruel, violent life as shells of who we once were, or roam as the walking dead.

"You can't think like that. Not anymore." She tries to snap me out of it, but the stern authorative sound of her voice just sends me deeper into my crying.

"You know, I lost my brother and my Mom within a month of the world ending." Her voice is softer now, almost a whisper. I lift my head up meekly out of my hands, and watch her as she continues talking, always keeping eye contact with me with those big green eyes. Soft, comforting eyes.

"By the time Rick came running up to our front door, with Carl dying in his arms, I was so sick of it. I cried myself to sleep at night. My dad told me where the rest of his group were. Told me to bring back his wife. His best friend, Shane, was there too. It just felt so...unfair. I'd lost two of the most important people in my life, and this lucky asshole still has his best friend, his son, and his wife. And then I met Glenn." She weakly smiles, cherishing the memory.

"I was sure he had a thing for me, but he didn't know I would watch him in the distance sometimes. From what I had heard, he seemed so sweet. One day, we went on a run to a pharmacy, me and him, and I caught him picking up a box of condoms. That was my chance, I thought. After that, I fell in love with him, and for almost a year we were happy. I thought I was safe. That we would live happily ever after, and raise our kids at the Prison. And then out of nowhere, it was all torn away from me. Glenn, the prison, all my friends. Gone." She's almost crying now, but continues.

"That taught me that you can never be comfortable. With anything. The people your with, where you sleep at, because one day it'll all be torn away" A tear slowly falls down her cheek, leaving a clean path in her dirt covered face. I wipe it away, and she helps me up.

"We better keep moving, I guess." I say, no emotion in my voice at all.


	8. Chapter 8: Some Southern Hospitality

****Yes, two updates within days of each other, because I've had a lot of time on my hands :D As always, if you like the story, of have some feedback, please leave reviews and follow/favorite to get updates :)

It's about noon when we find a small gated neighborhood, a couple miles down the road from the old house we started from. It seems pretty upperclass. All the houses are at least 3 stories high, old looking, and in most of the driveways, shells of fancy cars sit covered in rust.

"A lot of rich people must've lived here" I say to Maggie, looking around at the fancy houses. "It looks clean though. Looks like nobody's raided here yet". Now that surprises me, a place as nice as this going untouched.

"Good for us" She says, smiling, and we head up to the first house. Maggie kicks at the door knob hard, but the door doesn't move. Before I can kick again, I try the knob, and it turns out the door is unlocked.

"All these poor old rich fellows didn't need to lock their doors. They had that." I say sarcastically, pointing at the 10 ft high metal fence surrounding the houses. Maggie's laughs dryly, and we enter.

To my complete and utter surprise, we're greeted by people. Not dead ones either, 3 people pointing guns at us. Instantly Maggie and I hold up our hands, but upon further inspection, I realize that they're no threat.

In the middle there's an old black woman, in a plain magenta long sleeve shirt, with her thick black hair tied back in a bun and a long, unforgiving face. On either side of her there are two boys, one milk white and the other really tan, one probably about my age, the other looks to be 10 at most. Both have dirty blonde hair, and bright blue eyes.

"Get the hell off of our property." The black woman says in a cliche southern accent, clutching her shotgun tighter. The two boys, brothers probably, look at each other uncertainly, holding matching pistols. Maggie slowly puts down her gun on the hardwood floor, and I lower Isaac's machete, putting it back in it's sheath.

"We mean no harm." Maggie says softly.

"We're just looking for supplies, ma'am. Thought this place was abandoned." I say, and her expression softens up just a tad.

"You two been out there all this time, on the road? With those...things?" She asks.

"Actually, we were with a larger group, living in a prison probably 20 miles fro-" Maggie gets cut off by the black woman. "You prisoners? Inmates?" She asks warily, her eyes narrowing.

"Oh no, ma'am, not at all. The prison had fences, and it kept the walkers away." I say, truthfully. I bet these 3 have been living here since everything began, two years ago.

"Are there more of you? Don't lie to me either, I'll know if ya'll lie." Her thick, southern accent comes through on "ya'll".

"Not anybody from the prison. It was attacked by another group about a week ago, and we were forced out. We have 7 others with us, but not here. We can just scavenge from the other houses..." Maggie says, and the black woman puts her gun down, followed by the two boys doing the same.

"Naw, that's fine. C'mon in and have some tea, so we can talk, uh...I didn't catch your names..." She says, and Maggie and I lower our arms, relieved.

"I'm Maggie, and that's Alex."

"Okay, Maggie and Alex, please come in and have some tea." She waves for us to follow her, but turns around, adding "By the way, my name's Judy. That's David, and he's Micah." She points at the boys as she says their names; David is the older one, Micah the younger.

I have to hand it to Judy, she makes _excellent_ tea.

Judy, Maggie and I have been sitting around the dining room table for the last hour, talking over her tea, trading stories. Judy used to be a maid for David and Micah's parents, but when shit hit the fan, they split, leaving her and the kids here all alone. Judy has a garden in the back yard, and has cleared out half of the houses for food. Maggie told her briefly about the Prison and her mission to find Glenn.

"It gets awfully lonely here, with just the boys as company. You folks are a sight for sore eyes." She smiles, a big grin full of shining white teeth and radiating warmth. She must be in her late 50's, judging by the wrinkles on her forehead and the slight grey tint of her hair. In a way, she reminds me of Hershel.

"So you said you have a larger group a little ways from here? 7 of them if I heard correctly?" Judy asks Maggie.

"Yeah, 7 others. 2 that escaped with me from the prison attack, his younger siblings, and 3 people he met on the road. They're all really nice people, Judy." She pauses before asking "I know this is asking a lot, but would you mind if we stayed here for a night?"

I expect Judy to kindly refuse, but instead her smile gets bigger. "Of course, sugar! You folks seem nice enough, and i'm sure the boys will love the company." Judy pats Maggie's shoulder, and Maggie smiles back at her, big and bright.

"Thank you so much, Jude. We really appreciate this."

3 hours later, all 9 of us arrive back at Judy's house, and are welcomed with fresh baked bread (I haven't the slightest clue how Judy was able to make it) and her amazing sweet tea. Once David and Micah see Connor and Ashley, they run over to them and start talking excitedly. It isn't long before all 4 of them are running around upstairs, and I can hear the laughter.

Maggie and I introduce everybody, and Judy gives us a tour of the house. It's grand. 8 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, a luxurious basement with pool table and gameroom included, and a sizable attic, where she keeps all the food. There's a nice big staircase that leads up to the third floor. She gives us freedom of the house and choice of room, which is really generous.

Kat, Dave and Bob share the only bedroom downstairs, once used as a guest room. Sasha and Isaac take a room on the second level (Hmm..Interesting..). Connor and Ashley insist on sleeping in the boys' room, leaving Maggie and I to take separate rooms on the third floor.

Once I select my room, a nice one with lots of space, a queen sized bed with a dresser right next to it, I unpack my bags in the dresser. 3 shirts, 2 pairs of cargo shorts, 1 pair of black jeans, underwear and socks, not including what i'm wearing now. It all fits in the top drawer. I kick off my shoes and hop onto the bed, sighing in pleasure at the softness of it. Compared to my bed back at the prison, it's like laying on a cloud. The next thing I know i'm falling asleep.

And then the dreams begin, like they do every night.

_I'm in my old house, my nice, comfortable, fancy house. My room is about as big as the average living room, covered in band posters and pictures of my friends. We live next to the lake, and I go swimming almost daily in the summer. It's fabulous. Except for my step-dad. _

_From my room, I can hear him yelling at Mom, again. Over some little thing, as always, that he blows into huge proportions. I turn up my music and ignore it, as always. But then I hear Mom scream, and the scream is so loud and painful I can't ignore it, no matter how loud my music may be. _

_I rush downstairs, furious, and find my Mom laying on the floor, clutching her right arm. It's twisted at a gruesome angle, and I can see bone. _

_"WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO TO HER?!" I scream at Quinton, taking a swing at him that he easily dodges. For someone as fat as him, he's fast. He backhands me so hard I fall on the floor next to Mom. _

_"How DARE you talk back to me!" He barks, but then he looks scared. I'm not on the floor anymore. Matter of fact, I'm not even in my house. Quinton and I are deep in the woods of Indiana. The only light is coming from the moon, and Mom and the kids are fast asleep._

_"You think I'll let you stay with us, you fat, pathetic fuck? Do you know how long I've wanted you gone?" I say, in a cold, quiet voice that scares him and me. He scrunches up his face, about to spit somemore venom, but he never gets the chance. A sword appears in my hand, and I swing down hard on his right shoulder, completely severing his arm off of his body. Blood spurts out of the stump, and he looks at me in utter shock. _

_"That was for breaking my Mom's arm." I say, and slice off his left arm before he can register the movement. He falls to his knees, in disbelif that he doesn't have arms anymore. _

_"That was for you having the audacity to hit Connor." I pause, staring down at him in utter disgust, and kick him in the chest hard, sending him rolling roughly down the slope. I turn around to leave, but hear a snarl behind me. Turning around, I see Quinton is a walker, but his arms have grown back, and right before he bites down on me I hear a gunshot-_

God, I hate that dream. Ever since that night I killed him, it's all that I dream about. I don't know where him becoming a walker and the gunshot comes from, because that didn't really happen. The next morning Mom and the kids were confused when he wasn't there, and we all concluded that he abandoned us.

But I knew the truth.

And then I hear another gunshot.

Stiffening up, I bolt into a sitting position, and listen intently for another shot. I hear one, followed by what sounds like machine gun fire. Isaac. What the hell is he doing firing a gun at this hour? At all, really?

I pull on my pair of cargo shorts, and slowly open the door. The creaking it makes sounds extremely loud, but the gunshots it out. In the hallway below me, on the second floor, I see Maggie crouching by the grand stairway, pointing her gun downstairs and firing off 2 quick shots before pausing to reload. Crouching, I move my way over to where she is, hiding behind the wall right next to the stairs.

"Maggie, what the actual fuck is going on? Are their walkers in the house? Is everyone oka-" The returning gunfire silences me. The bullets embed themselves in the wall across from us, sending up plaster dust.

"At least 4 guys. Downstairs." She says, short, sweet, and to the point.

"Oh Jesus...I'm gonna go check on the kids." I tell her, making a run for it up the stairs, bullets hitting the stairs behind me. I duck into the third floor hallway, and open the latch that leads up to the attic. Once i'm almost all the way up, something hard hits me in the back of the head, and I see stars.

"What the fu-hell was that for?" I say, rubbing my head, still standing on the stairs, halfway in the attic.

"Oh. Sorry Alex." A little voice squeaks, and I turn arond to see Micah holding an old stair rail in a defensive positon.

"It's fine, really. Listen, guys, I need you all to stay up here until Judy or Maggie or I or somebody comes up to get you, okay?"

"Who's firing guns?" Ashley asks, on the verge of another panic attack.

"There's just some bad guys downstairs, but we're handling it. Don't panic, Ash." On que, Connor starts patting her back and whispers soothing words to her. Before I can say anything else, I hear glass shattering, on the third floor. I run down the fold out attic stairs, almost tripping, and see a guy in all black squirming through the window.

Well, fuck.

I slam the fold out stairs back into place, and feel for a weapon. I realize I left my belt in the cargo shorts, and I still have Isaac's machete. YES! Before the bad guy can even turn around, I charge up after him and jam the knife into the back of his skull. Just a little bit of blood comes out, but only when I pull the knife out. Turning the dead body around, I grab his semi automatic rifle, and the couple extra bullets he had in his coat pocket, along with a wicked looking hunting knife. Score.

As I make my way back down the main stairs, I fire wildly down into the darkness below, hoping that nobody is brave enough to fire back. Once i'm reunited with Maggie on the second floor, I tell her what happened.

"Some guy got in through a window upstairs. I handled it." I say, holding up my newly acquired gun and hunting knife. She just nods, plainly.

"Alex, you remember our talk yesterday?" I nod curtly, remembering how I broke down earlier.

"Yeah, well, some of us might die tonight. Come with me." She says, and charges down the stairs, firing all over the place. On que, I follow her down, until we're all the way to the bottom and I can hear heavy footsteps, several of them, retreating into the house.

Maggie makes her way for Kat's room, and opens the door slowly. Once Kat sees it's us, she lowers her shotgun. It was already out of ammo anyways, but whatever.

"Talk to me, Maggie." All of their hatred for each other melts away to deal with the bigger problem.

"4 guys, somewhere on the first floor. Alex killed one that broke in from the window upstairs. "

She nods, and we hear one of the assailants call out.

"C'mon out, you old black bitch! We know that it's just you and the two brats!"

"Who the fuck are these people? And where's Isaac, I heard machine gun fire." Kat says, nodding her head at the thug's stupidity. Must've not been around today when we, you know, showed up.

"I don't know where he is, but there might've been somebody who broke in on the second floor." Maggie tells her. Kat nods.

Kat reaches into Dave's gun bag, handing out guns. She gives me my pistol back, and gives Bob her Dad's loaded gun, since his was empty. Once she realizes she doesn't have any ammo for her shotgun, I hand her the semi automatic I took from the dead intruder. We all gather by the door, minus Dave, and prepare to head out. Kat looks back at us, madder than she usually is, which is saying something.

"Well, lets go out there and kill those stupid fuckers."


	9. Chapter 9: Recovery

_Hello friends :) Don't worry, I have NOT abandoned this, School is just a struggle. Updates might be more on a monthly basis now, but occasionally there may be 2 in a month :) _

Kat kicks the door open, and we fan out into the lobby, where we met Judy earlier today. Maggie and I go to the left, Kat and Bob go to the right. A huge surge of adrenaline is kicking in-I've never been an active participant in a shootout like this, and the attack on the Prison hardly counts.

Somebody comes running at us from one of the rooms up ahead, and Maggie shoots him square in the head. His long, ratty hair is sprayed with blood as he falls down, dead. "Too easy." Maggie comments, and we check the rest of the rooms. Nobody's there.

Where the hell is Judy?

"Maggie? Alex?" The thick southern voice yelling has to be Judy.

"Jude? Where are you?" Maggie yells back, making her way to the lobby, followed closely by me.

"Right here." Judy comes out down the stairs, looking around for any bad guys. Behind her is Sasha, who's bleeding from her shoulder, heavily, and Isaac is reloading his gun as he walks down the stairs. His thick dreadlocks are covered in blood.

"One of those fuckers was upstairs, broke into our room. Shot Sasha before I could get my gun out." Maggie looks at him confused.

"I thought all the guns were with Kat-"

"Well, i'm sorry Jude, but I didn't exactly trust you."

"No offense taken, honey."

It's then that Kat and Bob walk into the lobby, holding two white guys completely in black clothing. They throw them down onto the floor roughly, pointing guns at them. They took their guns, both semi automatic rifles, and are now aiming them at the assailants heads.

"Why aren't they dead?" Maggie asks, furious.

"They surrendered." Bob tells her plainly.

"Surrendered? And you believe that, Bob?" I spit out, closing the distance until the business end of my pistol is on the forehead of one of the would be robbers. "They tried to kill us, and would right now if they had the chance!" I hiss at him. "Jude, can you go and tell the kids everything's fine?" I ask her, and she scurries off up the steps.

"Calm down there, Alex." Dave says, emerging from his room. "They needed supplies, just like you and Maggie did earlier today."

"Dad-" Kat starts, but he cuts her off.

"Not everyone is a bad person. It sure seems like it nowadays, but that's not always the case. This could have been us if we had shown up here in the middle of the night." He is making sense, I suppose.

"Alex, if me and Kat and Isaac were bad people, you and your siblings would be _dead_. But we weren't bad. They surrendered, let's let them go. And if they're ever stupid enough to come back, we'll kill them. Deal?"

Even though I _realllllllllly_ want to kill these two men, I know that Dave has a point. Most likely they'll run off, and never come back. But, there's always that chance they may come back. I don't know, disobey Dave when he has a point and be for sure safe, or kill them and win his scorn?

"Deal, I guess." My full attention was directed at him. Hell, everybody's attention was on him. So that's how the robber I was about to shoot manages to grab my pistol right out of my hands, pistol whips me hard in the forehead, and starts shooting at everybody.

My forehead is on fire. I feel it with me hand, and see hot sticky fluid on my fingertips. Blood. I probably have a concussion. My vision is all fuzzy, and i'm barely standing, but I can see the shot that goes clean through Dave's chest. A fountain of blood shoots out, staining his white shirt, and he goes down.

"Dave." I croak out before I fall down. The two robbers are dead now, I can see their dead bodies on the floor, surrounded by pools of blood, almost black with the lack of light. Kat, Sasha, Isaac, Maggie and Bob are all gathered around Dave. I can hear Kat's horrible sobs over the ringing in my ears.

I hear something on the stairs, a voice it sounds like. I don't even know how I hear it over the intense ringing in my ears and Kat's screaming sobs. I look up and see Jude standing with the 3 kids. Wait, 3? My vision starts to go dark, but I can make out Micah, David and Connor standing behind Jude.

My last coherent thought before I pass out is: Where's Ashley?

My eyes aren't open yet, but I can tell that it's daytime now. Sunlight coming through a window is warming me, and it would almost feel pleasant if my head wasn't pounding. I don't know what room i'm in, and I don't care, i'm just happy that i'm not dead. Wait a minute, that is such a horrible thing to say. Dave just died, and there are worse things than dying.

Thankfully everyone else is still alive. Maggie, Kat, Isaac, Bob, Jude, the kids. And then it hits me-I never actually saw Ashley downstairs before I blacked out. Suddenly my eyes fly open, and I'm blinded by sunlight, but I don't care. I try to sit up, but I fail miserably, falling back onto the bed in a fit of pain.

"As-" I try to say, but that turns into a coughing fit, and someone rushes into the room. They tilt my head to the side as I continue to cough up blood. I feel a slight prick on my forearm, and pass out.

This time, when I wake up, the pain in my head is gone. Completely gone. And when I try to sit up, I can. It's dark out now, which means i've been out for at least a day. I rub my eyes, and see my hands have dried blood stains on them. From the robbers or from my coughing I can't say, but the sight of it still creeps me out.

"Hello? Maggie? Jude?" I call out, and somebody enters the room. At first, I can't tell who it is because of the thick darkness in the room, but whoever it is lights a lamp in their hands, illuminating their face.

It's Ashley.

"Oh god, I thought you were dead." I say, and attempt to reach out for an embrace, but I can't really get out of the bed. She sets the lamp down and rushes over to hug me.

"Dead? Why would I be dead?" She sounds confused.

"I didn't see you on the stairs with the others. Before I blacked out yesterday."

"Yesterday? You mean 4 days ago? And I was there, behind Judy." She says as if nothing is wrong.

"4 DAYS?!" I'm shocked.

"...Yeah. You got sick again, the flu from back at the Prison. But Jude had a bunch of medicine, and now you're fine." She breaks the hug, and picks up the lamp again, casting a dark yellow glow across the room.

"Where's everyone else? What room am I in?"

"You're in Judy's room, on the first floor. Maggie, Kat and Isaac are out looking for the rest of the bandits, because Kat thinks there's more of them. Bob's taking care of Sasha. She got shot in the shoulder. Jude's sleeping, and Connor, Micah and David are in the attic playing."

"What about Dave?" As soon as I ask I remember that he's dead.

"He's...he's dead, Alex." Ash looks down, sad.

Ignoring her answer, I say "Can you help me up?" She nods her head, wipes her eyes, and walks out of the room. A couple seconds later, she returns dragging an old cane. I can't help but snicker.

"I'll be like an old person now." I joke, and she smiles briefly.

After a good minute or so of struggling to get out of bed and standing up, I've managed to walk into the hallway, assisted by the cane and Ashley. I send her back upstairs to get some sleep. After giving me one last look, she run/walks up the stairs to the attic. She left me her lamp, so I can see. Everything looks old and sad in the dim yellow lighting.

Suddenly, the front door flies open, and in come Kat, Maggie and Isaac. Kat storms past me, not even caring to glance at me, and stomps upstairs. Just from the expression on Maggie's face, I can tell they had another argument. She doesn't care to glance at me either, fast walking down the hallway to her room, and I hear the door slam.

"Another fight?" I ask Isaac, who looks tired. He's holding his machete, spattered with walker blood, in one hand, his automatic rifle in the other. His forest green v-neck in covered in dark stains, like his machete, and his cargo pants are coated in it.

"How could you tell?" He asks me, in a breathy voice, trying to catch his breath. "This is the fourth night we've been out looking, and every time we come back they start arguing. I don't know how they can stay in this house together without their egos tearing it apart."

I smile. "Well, that's how they are. Can't really blame Kat though..." Even thinking about Dave makes me want to cry.

"True, true. But Maggie wants to move on soon. I don't know how she's stayed here this long without looking for Glenn. She's getting pretty edgy."

_Of course_ I think.

"Well, it's good to see you up and aware. You were out for a while there. Had some of us scared." By "some of us" I can tell he means everybody.

"Yeah, well, I'm all better now." I say, giving a fake flashy smile. He grins, and starts up the stairs.

"Oh, Isaac?" I call. He turns around, halfway up the stairs.

"I was thinking" I start, slowly walking until i'm at the bottom of the stairs, "that when I get better in a couple of days, we could take a small group out looking for Glenn. Just to keep Maggie at ease."

He puts his machete in it's sheath before replying. "That is actually a pretty good idea, you know. But," He says, resting his forearm on the rail, "Is it really that smart to split us all up. Something could happen out there."

"I know, but, from what you said earlier, Kat and Maggie are on the verge of all out war. If a couple of us went out with her on an extended trip to look for Glenn, it would give both her and Kat time to cool off. And, we might actually find Glenn. I know I want to."

Isaac sighs. "I don't know, maybe. Bring it up tomorrow at breakfast, see what everyone thinks.

Hello friends :) Don't worry, I have NOT abandoned this, School is just a struggle. Updates might be more on a monthly basis now, but occasionally there may be 2 in a month :)


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